Manipulation of plants to alter and/or improve phenotypic characteristics (such as productivity or quality) requires the expression of heterologous genes in plant tissues. Such genetic manipulation relies on the availability of a means to drive and to control gene expression as required. For example, genetic manipulation relies on the availability and use of suitable promoters which are effective in plants and which regulate gene expression so as to give the desired effect(s) in the transgenic plant.
The plant meristem is the source from which new tissues and organs of a plant are produced. The meristem-preferential or meristem-specific promoters are useful for regulating plant development and other relevant agronomic traits. However, the number of promoters with meristem-preferential or meristem-specific expression profiles is very limited.
There is, therefore, a great need in the art for the identification of novel sequences that can be used for expression of selected transgenes in economically important plants. It is thus an objective of the present invention to provide new and alternative expression cassettes for meristem-preferential or meristem-specific expression of transgenes in plants. The objective is solved by the present invention.